Diamond Princess
by kitty-kat204
Summary: AU: This is the story of two sisters and their life around their father's baseball team. Sarah is the beautiful one all the players chase, but what happens when the new star pitcher catches sight of her younger sister Elizabeth? If you like baseball you should like this story, even if Liason isn't your favorite couple
1. Chapter 1

There was nothing like the smell of freshly cut grass. It had to be one of his favorite smells. He could remember as a kid when his dad would cut the front lawn, he would walk out of the house and sit on the porch just to breath in the wonderful aroma. He sucked in the sweet smell now as the maintenance raw finished mowing the baseball field. There was nothing quite like this smell.

It was early morning and Jeff Webber had come in earlier than anyone else on his staff. He had come in early to walk the field, he wanted to hear the crunch of the dirt under his feet, feel the sun on his skin and take in that sweet smell that he loved so much. He also came to think. That was one of Jeff's quirks that many of his staff had come to know about him over the years, when he had serious thinking to do, Jeff would just walk around the diamond for hours till he was ready to face whatever was plaguing his mind.

Today was no different, Jeff had many things on his mind that he needed to work through. He was thinking about his upcoming season with is almost new team. He had only two starters from last season returning. He was thinking about his new hot headed, hot tempered, hot shot pitcher, and how he was going to have to keep him in check. And lastly Jeff was thinking about his two daughters.

Jeff had been coaching baseball since he blew out his knee playing ball himself. In the span of his career Jeff had dealt with many a young men, but he still did not fully understand his girls. It wasn't just all that stuff they dealt with once a month (he was convinced there was no understanding that at all), but he didn't quite get all the emotional things that he knew his wife would have been able to handle with them.

For the last two weeks his daughters, Sarah and Elizabeth, had been fighting and it was beginning to give both him and everyone around them a massive headache. Though just as Jeff was rounding second base for the sixth time, he wasn't even sure what they were fighting about. When he had asked Sarah she would just tell him that Elizabeth was being stubborn and that just because Elizabeth didn't have a love life, that shouldn't stop her from helping Sarah have one. When Jeff had asked Elizabeth about it, she had told him that she was not going to help her sister make a fool of herself and she sure wasn't going to help her in her crazy scheme to trap anyone.

If only he and his wife would have just had all boys, oh Jeff could have handled that so much easier. If guys were mad, you just gave them a punching bag so they could hit something. If guys were sad you left them alone and then when they were ready you took them out for a drink or two. And when guys were fighting, that's what you let them do, fight. Most times once guys had hit it out they were done and it was over.

But with girls it was so much more complicated than that. When girls were mad, he had learned that they would rage like a tornado and take their anger out on anyone and anything that got in their way. When girls were sad they could cry rivers and want to be comforted (or left alone, depending on their mood) And when girls were fighting he knew to watch out. They could be mean and conniving and they could manipulate just about anyone to get what they wanted, and oh boy could a girl hold a grudge.

Currently the girls were ignoring one another despite the fact that they lived under the same roof and as of today they would now be working for the baseball team together. Though Jeff worked for a minor league team, the owners treated this as a family business and liked to hire within, so many times they allowed already existing staff to bring in their children. Sometimes it worked out nicely. His son Steven had been the team's catcher for the last three seasons and Sarah had been working in the publicity office for two years. Now Elizabeth would be interning with the athletic trainers to gain college credits.

Jeff loved all of his children and was overjoyed that he got to be around them every day, but the fighting his two girls were doing lately had to come to a stop so as not to upset the balance of his season. He just couldn't figure out how to accomplish such a thing.

"Figured I would find you out here," Jeff heard the voice of his pitching coach say as he rounded home plate for what must have been his twentieth time.

Turning and facing the man, "Am I becoming that predictable in my old age, Luke?"

Luke Spencer had been Jeff's pitching coach for the past six years, and since then had also become one of Jeff's closest friends. Back in his heyday Luke had been an amazing relief pitcher for the Texas Rangers. He had of course aged since then, instead of the blond curls that used to poke out from under his ball cap, he now had a mane of gray. The years of being out in the sun day in and day out now left Luke's skin a tad bit leathery, but still he was one of the only people Jeff trusted. Luke was very honest and Jeff would find himself not just asking Luke for advice on the game and his team, but also his personal issues with family.

"Not predictable, Jeff just a creature of habit," Luke responded with a small grin. "I take it you have something on your mind then."

Jeff let out a huge sigh, "My girls, mostly," he told his longtime friend. "I just don't know how I let their fighting get so out of control with those two and their gosh darn fighting. I really hope they can keep it at home, cause the last thing I need is a distraction at the begging of the season. We both know I'll have enough stress to deal with with this new team of ours. Thank goodness Steven and Patrick are still around to keep the team in check."

Luke let out a little chuckle, "Steven yes, but we both know Patrick can have his mind turned around when he notices a pretty face in the crowed. He's what I have been told is a bit of a player, and I don't mean ball player."

"Maybe, but he's a good ball player none the less and when it comes down to it he always puts the game first, that's what makes him the best first baseman in the league."

"True," Luke said, "So, what are we thinking about the rest of our new team? Are we going to have a winning season?"

"Outfield looks like it's going to be solid, O'Brien, Corelli and little Giambetti are spot on. They all seem to be the strong silent type, so I'm sure they can mesh well together. The infield on the other hand may be another story. We both know that Patrick and Steven can get along and work together, but I'm not sure how this Spencer kid….."

"No relation," Luke threw in there with a look of terror at the thought of having any children at all.

Jeff chuckled at his friend, knowing full well Luke was not the fatherly type and never planned to have any children. He knew Luke liked the bachelor life too much to ever settle down completely. " Got it, not your kid." Jeff said still chuckling and shaking his head.

Once Jeff was composed again, "Anyway this Spencer kid is a good third baseman, but from what I was told by his last coach, he's not the brightest bulb in the bunch. We've got Corinthos playing shortstop and he can be a bit volatile. Then of course your ace pitcher you wanted, Morgan."

"So all and all a rag tag team," Luke said with a grin and a shake of his head. " My favorite kind."

"Yeah, pretty much," Jeff responded. He looked down at his watch realizing what time it was and looked back up at his longtime friend, "Let's get this season started."

Both men started off to the dug out to go meet the team and get training started for what they hoped would be a championship season.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

Luck was never on her side and today was no exception. First day on a new job, a job she wanted more than anything, and she goes and oversleeps. For some reason her alarm hadn't gone off, even though she remembered setting it the previous night. If she were a betting woman (but again luck had never been her friend so she avoided gamboling) she would bet her sister somehow had something to do with her lack of a wakeup call.

Elizabeth crawled out of bed and headed to the bathroom to take a shower, a very quick shower. "Bout time you decide to crawl out of bed." Sarah sneered at her as Elizabeth rushed by. "Really Lizzie what kind of impression are you trying to give the Cassadines? That the baby of the family doesn't know how to show up to work on time and ready to face the day? If I were Mr. Cassadine I would make today your first and last day."

Elizabeth just smiled back sweetly at her sister, "Good thing you're not him then." She figured Sarah was looking for an argument this morning and Elizabeth was already running behind and had no time to spare with her sister, plus she knew it would just grade on Sarah's nerves for Elizabeth to be sweet to her.

Turning on the hot water Elizabeth wondered how her and her sister had become such bitter enemies. There had actually been a time when the two had been close and friendly with one another. Elizabeth blamed Sarah's boy crazy attitude for most of their problem, and Sarah's best friend Carly. When Carly and Sarah got together it was like that movie _Mean Girls_ came to life.

The current fight that Elizabeth and Sarah were currently having was due to a boy. No, they were not fighting to get the same boys attention; rather Elizabeth was trying to make sure Sarah didn't get her high maintenance claws into a decent guy. Sarah had for whatever reason decided that Matt Hunter and she were just simply meant to be, and while Elizabeth believed everyone was free to make their own choices, she just knew that Sarah would ruin Matt.

Matt was the head athletic train for the Port Charles Bulldogs, a local minor league baseball team, and he was also a close friend of Elizabeth's and now her boss. The last thing Elizabeth wanted was to have her sister ruining Matt. Elizabeth wasn't blind and could understand Sarah's attraction to Matt. He was tall, and very well built, and had wonderfully yummy chocolate brown eyes, but he was too good for her sister. It would just pain Elizabeth to watch Sarah use up Matt only to change her mind a week later and find some other new guy. That was the many problems with Sarah; she was fickle when it came to men. One week she liked one guy and the next she was on to another.

Elizabeth jumped out of the shower, wrapped herself in a towel and ran back to her bedroom to get dressed. Luckily she had to put little thought into what to wear, because she had a white polo with the team's logo and khaki shorts that were required as a trainer. The problem was going to be her hair.

Elizabeth glanced at the clock, she only had 20 minutes till she had to be there and that was no time for a girl with curly hair to do anything with it. True she could scrunch and put tons of products in her hair, but even that took longer than the time she had. So she decided on two French braid pigtails. Elizabeth looked in the mirror, "Great I look like I'm 12." She said out loud with a frown, but time was up and there was no changing her look now.

Elizabeth walked out of here room, grabbed a muffin from the kitchen and took her keys off the hook near the door. Sarah was supposed to have given her a lift this morning, but Elizabeth was in no mood to deal with Sarah, plus Elizabeth noticed once she turned the corner and looked in the drive way, Sarah was already long gone.

Elizabeth climbed behind the wheel of her Jeep and started off to face her first day. Most people would be nerves starting a new job but, with her whole family all working for the team, she had grown up around most of the people she would be working with. Matt was the head trainer and he had been the one who really talked her into a career as a trainer. Robin Scorpio was also a trainer, and since she and Steven were like best friends, she had become the big sister Elizabeth wished she would have had.

The Cassadine family owned the team, and they were pretty decent people. Elizabeth had once heard that they were decedents of Russian royalty, but for the most part they seemed very down to earth, well to her anyway. Stefan the patriarch of the family had been sneaking her chocolate since she started hanging around the ball field when her father had been hired on as manager of the team. His son Nicholas was always around with some kind words to say. She suspected that had more to do with the fact that Nicholas was hopelessly in love with Sarah, and he thought if he could get in good with Elizabeth, maybe you would have a shot. Too bad no one told Nicholas that the two girls didn't get along, so that was like the worse plan ever.

Elizabeth pulled in to a parking space at the ball field with about two minutes to spare. She hoped out of the car and looked around the lot. It was always fun to see the cars that the players drove. For the most part the players thought they were hot shots so they would drive sports cars or muscle cars, and it seemed that this season was not going to be an exception to that rule. She took note of Steven's truck, and she saw an SUV that must belong to one of the new players, and lastly her eye fell on the Harley that was parked in the lot.

The sight of the motorcycle made Elizabeth stop in her tracks. It was always something she had wanted to do, ride on one that was. She was so caught up in her thoughts about what it would be like to hop on that bike and go as fast as she could, that Elizabeth never saw him come up behind her.

He wrapped his arms around her waist lifted her off the ground and swung her around for a good three turns. Placing her back on the ground "What's up Liz-bits?" he asked as she turned around to face him. Zander Smith stood in front of his friend with a big cheesy grin on his face.

Zander and Elizabeth had been best friends since her father had brought the family to Port Charles. He had been the first person to talk to her on her first day of school, so she deemed him to be her friend. He was a tall, brown haired, brown eyed boy that could make her smile and laugh more than anyone. He worked security at the ball field, he had been doing it every summer since he was 16 and Elizabeth was sure that until he grew up and decided what he wanted, he would continue to do it.

"You know he could really scare the mess out of someone doing that." She said swatting at his arm.

Zander ignored her and threw his arm around her shoulder and guided her to the front entrance to the stadium. "That was the whole point."

"You know one of these days you're going to have to grow up and stop acting like you're 16."

"Yeah, maybe, but today is not that day," he said. Tugging on one of her pig tails he then responded with "at least I don't look like I'm six."

Elizabeth shot him an evil glare, "Well I didn't have time to do anything else with this unruly mess of hair. Would you rather I came to work with a giant frizz ball on top of my head?"

Zander laughed, "Yeah I guess we wouldn't want to scare anyone on your first day. They might not let you back in the door."

"You're not as funny as you think you are you known."

Zander stopped and smiled down at his friend. "Yeah I am. Now hope on we're at the gate, and you know the rules."

This made Elizabeth smile. Since Zander had first gotten his job, they had this thing they did. As soon as they reached the front gate, he would give her a piggy back ride to where ever it was in the building she was going. "Zander, we can't do that. How would it look if I came in on your back?"

"Who cares? Anyone who counts around this place already knows this is what we do, and anyone else who doesn't just needs to realize this is how things run around here."

Never one to argue with a good point Elizabeth grabbed onto his shoulders, and he lifted her onto his back. It was nice to be put up on his back and carried away. It made her feel like she hadn't a care in the world. Just as they passed into the gate of the stadium, Elizabeth caught sight of the motorcycle in the parking lot. It made her wonder who it belonged to, and what type of person they might be.

She didn't know much about motorcycles, but she knew that people, who usually had a Harley, were real bikers. They were the Hell's Angels type, the kind who were rough and tough. She hoped this meant that the team would be shaken up a bit. For the last couple of seasons the team had been a bit of a bore, because they were as dry as white bread. She hoped that her first season here on staff would be a thrilling one now that they had a big, tough biker playing.

Zander rounded the corner that lead to the training room and deposited his friend back on level ground. "Lunch?" he asked.

"Sure, if you're buying." She agreed with a smile.

"Deal, "he agreed as he turned to walk back to doing his work.

Elizabeth watched him turn the corner and then headed herself to the door that lead to where her own work awaited her. She placed her hand on the door knob and let out a breath, time to get this season started, she said to herself. She turned the knob and walked in to her future.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The start of a new season meant one thing to Jason Morgan, a new city. That was the way Jason had played for the last four years. Once he was done with a season he would begin to find a new ball club to play for in a city that was he had never been to before. For the most part this was an easy process since he was a good pitcher and most teams would fight to have them in the bullpen.

Jason also liked moving from city to city because it meant he wouldn't have roots set down. He just couldn't picture himself becoming part of any community, not since the fall out with his family over his career choice. His family had wanted him to finish school and become a doctor like his mother and father, even though it was his father who had pushed him to play and succeed at sports at a young age.

When Jason was a junior in college, playing ball, a scout had come to one of his games and suggested he take his baseball career to the next level. So against his parents' wishes he decided to sign to play minor league ball in order to one day make it to the majors. He loved his job and hoped to play ball for as long as his arm was willing to hold out.

So now here Jason was a new season, with a new team, a new coach and in a new city. He wasn't one to show emotion, but on the inside Jason was thrilled to be in a new city. He had been playing for a ball club just outside of Atlantic City and had somehow let himself get involved with a girl there. Courtney was a nice enough girl, and would make some man a great wife, but Jason was not that man. He felt a little bad that he had snuck out in the middle of the night and left no way for her to get in contact with him, but then again he had said from the beginning of their relationship he was not one to settle.

Jason walked into the locker room that morning to change and get ready to start spring training. He hoped this group of guys could give him the wins he needed so that a major scout would notice him and move him up to the big times. The last couple of teams he had played for had promised him a great season, but all had fallen flat, thereby not getting him noticed by major league scouts.

He looked around for his locker and saw his name wedged between Webber and O'Brien. He knew that Steven Webber was the catcher, and a mighty good one at that. He knew nothing of O'Brien, but he was hoping he was good at his job. Jason walked over to his locker in silence and thought about the choices that had led him to Port Charles.

A big appeal to this team was having the chance to work with Luke Spencer. As a kid Jason had fallowed his career. Luke had been one of the best pitchers to play in the late 90's. Though the Rangers had come nowhere close to winning a World Series, Luke's record stood as a solid pitcher, and Jason was excited to be under his toutaledge.

Another appeal to Port Charles was the Cassadine Corporation that owned the team. Though Jason was not interested in working for a big company in any way, he was drawn to the money they were willing to pay to their players. Jason was a man of very little want and his life style was show to that. His only major asset was his priced 1953 Panhead Harley Davidson motorcycle. Jason was not a stupid man and he knew that the shelf life a pitcher was not very long, so other than living expenses most of his pay would go into the bank and with the Cassadine's willing to pay him good money, he knew that his account would only grow fatter.

Jeff Webber was another reason to come to Port Charles. He was a fair manager and he treated his players with the utmost respect. Jason had met some players through the years that had worked for Jeff and had nothing but good things to say about him. They also had nothing but good things to say about his beautiful daughter.

There was a term in baseball that referred to the coach's daughter. She was known as a Diamond Princess, the name came of course because a baseball field was shaped like a diamond and most little girls were their daddy's princess. Jason had met a few of these girls and so far was not impressed by any of them. They were either just average in both looks and personality or they were very good looking but very shallow. But Jeff's daughter was said to be one of the best looking princesses in this conference and most of the surrounding one's for that matter. Jason wasn't looking for any kind of relationship at all, but while he was here he figured he might as well have some fun with a good looking girl.

"You got an extra pair of socks?" Jason heard someone ask from his right. "Can't believe it's the first day of practice and I can't find my damn socks. You don't think someone would take them do you? You didn't take em, right?"

Jason looked at the overly tall man. He must have been at least six feet five inches tall, had brown hair and blue eyes. Jason couldn't believe that he was actually being accused of stealing socks, of all things. "I didn't…"

"Oh never mind there they are under my glove." He said. The man looked back over at Jason, looking him up and down. "So I hear you're supposed to be like an amazing pitcher or something like that."

"Or something," Jason replied as he tied the laces to his cleats

The man let out a chuckle, "I think I'm going to like you. Johnny O'Brien." The man stuck out his hand.

Jason accepted the man's hand and shook it still not sure what to think about his new teammate. "Jason Morgan."

"Yeah I know. I kinda checked out who I would be playing with, ya know, make sure this team would be worth putting in all my effort on the field. So far we seem like we might have a good crew, well at least on paper. You never really know how people will interact with each other.

"Well we know Webber and Drake get along alright, they've been playing together the last couple of season and Frannie and Me work well alright. We played together down in Macon, Georgia. Not sure about the rest though. I had my doubts about you, you know."

Even though he really didn't want to Jason had to ask, "Why?"

"Really? Jason Morgan, promising pitcher out of Stanford goes and plays club ball for the Giants, but before he can finish his first season, request to be traded to another team far away from California, and has never played for the same team two seasons in a row. Makes a guy wonder where your loyalties lie."

"Thy lie with me." Jason stated matter of factly.

"Like I said, I think I'm gonna like you." Johnny repeated as he grabbed his glove and headed out of the locker room.

After throwing on his practice jersey Jason followed Johnny out of the door. Only problem was it was the wrong door. Somehow Jason had ended up in a hallway with a bunch of doors and he wasn't sure how to get to the field. Jason looked to his left, but saw that that way lead back to the parking lot. He looked to his right and notice a man carrying someone piggy back style on his back.

Jason had heard that the Cassadine's treated their companies like small family businesses. Jason assumed that the little girl in pig tails must have been that man's little kid sister or something. It made Jason miss his sister. One of the down falls of the fall out with his folks. Not only did he not speak to them any longer, but he had lost contact with his little sister.

He looked again at the man and his sister as they rounded the corner. She looked to be maybe 12 or 13, but from this distance Jason couldn't tell. His sister Emily would be around 19, even though in Jason's mind's eye when he thought of her he always thought of her as being that little girl of ten who would fallow him wherever he went.

Jason figured the best way to get to the field would be to fallow the pair down the hall. He watched as they rounded a corner and realized that they were not headed the right way. He had two options, he could wait for them to come back this way, but who knew how long that would take, or he could continue down the hall and hope to either run into the field or someone who could point him in the right direction. He chose the latter of the two.

Jason walked until the hall came to a dead end and had to either pick right or left. "Take a right, fallow it down till you see the door that says locker room, walk straight to through the locker room and you'll run right into the door that will take you onto the field." A young dark European man told Jason.

"Thanks." Jason said and he hustled down the hall. He needed to hurry up and get on the field, he was sure he was going to be the last one there, and the last thing Jason wanted on his first day was to be chewed out by his coach. He may not have been the most disciplined player as a kid, but he was now and he refused to let getting lost in that maze of a hallway get him into trouble.

Jason fallowed the man's directions and finally was faced with the door that would lead to the rest of his life. Here was hoping this door also lead to a winning season. Jason pushed it open.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

She was convinced that no one appreciated everything that she did or how hard she worked. No one at home, no one at work, not a single soul understood just how much planning she had to do in order for the people she loved to be taken care of. Sarah Webber, eldest daughter of Jeff and Clair Webber is by far the hardest working member of her family and also the most unappreciated.

It had been that way for as long as Sarah could remember, back in the time when her mother first got sick. When Clair Webber couldn't get herself out of bed because she was so weak, it was Sarah who made sure the house was clean, the family was fed and that Elizabeth got the help on her homework she needed. Sarah never mind though, maybe a part of her thought if she could take care of the house then her mother would get better. Looking back now Sarah knew it was wishful thinking of a child.

When the cancer finally took her mother's life Sarah fell into the roll that her mother once held. Not only was she cooking and cleaning and taking care of her brother and sister, but now she was also making sure that her dad was taking care of himself and their household. Sarah was the one who had to remind him to pay the bills on time, to go to the grocery store so they could have food in their house. Again Sarah never complained about the extra responsibly she took on, but after ten plus years she was complaining now.

Sarah Webber was done playing mother to her brother, her sister and her father. She was beginning to resent her family for keeping her in that role for so long. She had yet to tell her family but she and her best friend Carly were planning on getting a place together away from them all. Steven was constantly making comments that proved how little he thought of the role she played, her father couldn't muster up a thank you to save his life and Elizabeth was a giant brat who could never lift a finger to help Sarah with anything she asked.

A good example of this was Dr. Matt Hunter. Sarah knew that they would be the perfect couple. He was handsome and educated and he owned his own home. He met almost everything on her list. Sarah could picture herself being called Mrs. Dr. Hunter. She knew in her heart of hearts that this was the guy for her, and she asked her sister to help her make him hers, but could Elizabeth help? No she had to through a little hissy fit about how she wouldn't help Sarah.

Sarah couldn't figure it out. She knew Elizabeth wasn't interested in Matt, not with the way she was always hanging all over Zander. So why couldn't she help out her big sister? She claimed that Sarah was fickle in her dating life, and a part of that was true. Sarah knew that you had to kiss a few frogs before you found your prince. and Sarah had kissed a bunch of frogs. But again Elizabeth was jumping to the wrong conclusions about Matt. Sarah could see herself growing old with this man and having a family and…..

"Gosh Webber," Sarah's thoughts were interrupted by Carly Benson, her best friend and a trusted coworker. "I have been talking to you for like five minutes and I can guarantee you didn't hear I word I said, did you?"

Feeling a bit guilty for not paying her friend any attention Sarah responded honestly with a "No"

Carly just looked at her friend in disbelief. It wasn't like Sarah to just ignore her, heck it wasn't like anyone to just ignore her. Carly demanded to be the center of attention in every situation and right now with Sarah with her head off in the clouds that wasn't happening. "I was asking you if you had seen this season's crop of players. Man are they yummy. They are all just so tall and muscular and the new shortstop as a tight butt." She paused to lick her lips, "you could bounce a quarter off of it. There are days I really love this job, and this is one of them."

After talking, Carly once again looked over at Sarah and realized she had again not heard a word she had said. "Okay, what is your problem?" Carly blurted out with a bit of venom.

Sarah looked up suddenly and realized she had again been caught not listening to her friend. "I'm sorry what did you say?"

"Really? Sarah what is your deal? I only have seen you like this when you are heartbroken over some guy or you're sister has you in a tail spin." Carly looked at her friend and realized that she had guessed right when she had brought up Elizabeth. Sitting down across from her friend she said, "Alright let's hear it. What did that little muffin face do this time?"

Sarah let out a deep sigh, yes Carly was her best friend and she knew that she always had Sarah's back, but Elizabeth was still her sister. It almost felt wrong to bad mouth her to Carly, almost. "She is being such a brat. I tell her I like Matt and need her help to find out what type of girl she likes and you know put in a good word for me. You know what she said to me? She said I wasn't his type so move on. What a brat right?"

"Totally," Carly said as she shook her head in agreement.

"I mean she's got her little thug boyfriend. Unless do you think she's trying to go after Matt? Do you think she likes him?"

"I wouldn't put it past her. I never trusted your sister. She act to pure and good, I know though, that girl can be so rotten." Carly said. "You should go down there and find out from your sister. Look her in the eye and see if she lies to you about it." Carly knew it was probably wrong to egg on the fight between the two sisters, but at the same time if Elizabeth was trying to take away Sarah's boyfriend Sarah had a right to know.

Sarah was starting to really believe that Carly had a point. Why else would Elizabeth not want Sarah and Matt together? Sarah was a great person and she knew it, she was pretty, had a great job, dressed fabulously and what guy wouldn't want her? Sarah stood up and paced her small office while she thought more and more on Elizabeth's behavior, it was all making sense, Elizabeth wanted Matt!

"Oh my God, Carly I think you're right."

"Tell me something I don't know." Carly said as she examined her nails, realizing she needed a manicure.

Marching over to her office door, Sarah reached for the handle and turned to her friend, "Who does she think she is? I don't care if she's my sister or not, she can't get away with taking my man." Just as her hand was about to turn the knob there was a knock at the door. A bit surprised Sarah opened the door to find Nicholas Cassidine standing behind it.

Nicholas not only worked in the publicity department of the team with both Carly and herself, but he was also the owner's son. He was tall and Greek; there was no other way to describe him. He had dark hair, dark eyes and an olive complexion that would make most girls melt at the rich young man.

"Good morning ladies," he smiled as he said the greeting, "We are meeting in the conference room in about ten minutes."

Damn Nicholas. Now Sarah had to put on her game face and hold off putting her little sister in her place. If he only knew this was a matter of Sarah's future happiness, he could hold off on the meeting. "Are there any problems with your campaigns?" Sarah asked, as businessy as she could.

"We'll talk about it once we're in the meeting, but the concept we came up with just doesn't seem like it's going to fit with the team. Have you had a chance to see these guys?"

"Oh yes." Carly replied to him with a wicked grin

"Then you also know the all-American boys next door doesn't fit this crew. Ten minutes ladies, and come with your thinking caps on. We need to fill seats this season."

Nicholas turned and left their office. Sarah knew ten minutes would not be enough time to get down to the training room, chew out Elizabeth and get back well composed for her meeting. "I guess I'll have to deal with Lizzie after this meeting."

"Damn, I was hoping for a show before lunch." Carly said as she gathered up some papers for their meeting. "Oh well guess we need to get to this meeting so we can start the season off with bang."

Sarah followed Carly out of the office and smiled as she caught a glimpse of Matt, unfortunately her sister was tailing right behind him like a little lost puppy. Sarah couldn't wait to find out what Elizabeth was doing with Matt. Maybe Sarah should go have a chat with Zander and let him know how his girlfriend was behaving. Another smile graced Sarah's face, but this one was an evil one filled with menacing thoughts.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The late morning sun had caused the temperature to raise at least twenty degrees and Jeff was not happy about it. This meant that his team had to stay hydrated, which meant more breaks, which meant less practice. It was hard to evaluate a new team when just as they were getting into the flow of the game, they had to stop practice. There was a reason baseball had spring practice, because the temperature was supposed to be mild, but if it was already this hot in April he was gonna hate this summer and the temperature that would come with it.

From what little bit he had seen this morning he was semi impressed. They had only been working on ball skills, just trying to figure out the level everyone was on. Luke had been right his outfield was solid. The guys were all tall, which was good because if it came down to it they could jump up and catch any balls that approached the back fence. They all also had really good arms so they could through the ball back into the infield so plays could be made.

His infield was playing alright, but they didn't seem to be quite meshing as well as he had hoped. He knew it was only the first day of practice and the first time all these men had been on the field together, but Jeff had coached long enough to know that a team that couldn't get a long and work together was doomed to fail. It didn't' matter how talented an individual player was, without teamwork you would lose every time.

Jeff looked over to where Luke had the new pitcher working on his arm. Already Jeff was sorry he had come to the team. He could tell that Morgan felt entitled and that he was God's gift. The kid showed up late to practice, which was something Jeff didn't appreciate. Jeff knew that Jason had an arm that could lead to quick outs and that would be hard to hit off of, but at the same time if Jason was going to act like he was better than every other player on the team, was he worth it?

Jeff had seen Jason's type many times before. A player with tremendous talent that was destined to have a long successful career, but had an attitude to go with the talent. Jeff just hoped that Jason's attitude wouldn't be the downfall of his season. Cassidine had recruited Jason to this team to bring on the wins, and Jeff knew he had the talent to do so, but Jeff was still worried all the same.

Jeff glanced down at his watch. It had been about a half hour since his team had taken a break and it was close to lunch time. He figured now would be a good time to stop this morning. He signaled to Luke to stop working Jason then he signaled to his third and first base line coaches so they could gather the rest of the team to gather.

As they all settled on the ground around the pitcher's mound, Jeff decided to address the group. "So far so good. I was very impressed with everyone. Yes it's only the first day of practice, but if this is just you all practicing I can't wait to see you play in a real game. We're gonna break for lunch now, when we get back we'll be working on our hitting skills. You have one hour for lunch. I expect everyone back on this field by one." He spared a glance in Jason's direction, "not 1:05. I expect you to be ready and on time. So go on get out of here."

Everyone began to rise and head to the locker rooms, so they could get their much needed brake. Jeff took another glance at Jason, "Before you leave Morgan can I see you?"

Jason walked over to where Jeff stood, not saying a word. Jeff took one look at Jason and realized he looked more like a stone cold statue, and less like the self-absorbed youth he thought he was. Maybe Jeff had pegged him wrong, or maybe Jeff had it right and Jason had a problem with authority. It didn't really matter either way, Jeff was the manager of this team and therefore his players had to learn to obey his rules, and if he had to make an example of his star pitcher on the first day of practice so be it.

Jason finally stood maybe two feet away. "I know this is a new team for you," Jeff began, "but if there is one thing I cannot tolerate it is tardiness to practice." Jason still had the silent borg look going on. "So to show you just how much I dislike it and to hopefully teach you to not do it again I want you to run ten laps around the field. Not just the diamond but the area around the fence.

Jason said nothing. He dropped his glove in front of Jeff's feet and took out to the fence and started his laps. Jeff was now even more confused about the younger man then ever. The older coach just shook his head, hoping his season was worth the new personalities he was going to have to deal with.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

So far her morning had consisted of fallowing Dr. Matt Hunter around, and boy was it boring. All Matt seemed to care about was that everyone knew how great he was and that now he was passing his knowledge on. She liked Matt, she really did, but how had she never noticed how self-centered he could be. Right now Matt had her parading around the front office. He was supposedly showing her around, but she had grown up in this place so this "tour" was very much pointless.

Elizabeth had thought that on her first day she would be learning how to properly wrap an ankle, or ice a shoulder, but obviously Matt had other plans. All Elizabeth wanted to do was get back to the training room where Robin was and start learning and practicing her technique so that she could be a great doctor herself, not sit here and be Matt's pet.

Not to mention Elizabeth was trying to do everything in her power to avoid her sister and with Matt bringing her around the office it seemed it was going to be hard to do. Matt was currently chatting with blond woman Elizabeth did not recognize, nor cared to get to know at this point, especially since it seemed like Matt was flirting with the young blond so why would Elizabeth want to be in his way.

She was currently standing off away from the conversation just glancing around when she caught sight of Zander making faces at her outside the window. She couldn't help it she had to laugh out loud. This of course earned her funny looks from both Matt and the blond, which only made Elizabeth laugh even harder, this caused Matt to excuse himself and beckon for Elizabeth to fallow him.

This was when she caught sight of Sarah coming out of her office and she did not look happy. Great all Elizabeth was doing was trying to do was her job and now her sister was probably plotting something evil. Elizabeth let out a sigh. "Oh come on Elizabeth my company can't be that bad." Matt said.

"No, no, no that's not it." Elizabeth started to protest.

Matt gave her a dazzling smile, "I was only kidding. I know I can be a bit of a bore sometimes, but just bear with me." He patted her on the head, "I just like showing off my new pet." This just gained an eye roll from Elizabeth. "Besides if you were back in the training room Robin would just have you studying, and where's the fun in that?"

So being the good pet that she was Elizabeth fallowed Matt where ever he went that morning, and it seemed that Matt wanted to take her everywhere around the stadium. The only two places he seemed to avoid were the training room and the field. She was kind of disappointed in not going to the field; it would have been fun to see her dad and Steven. When she was younger she loved to sit in the stands and just watch her dad coach, and she always loved to watch her brother play ball.

Finally there was no avoiding the training room and she and Matt were headed back there now. That was when she felt the vibration from her back pocket. Pulling out her cell phone she saw the text from Zander

***I may be buying lunch, but that just means you're driving –Z***

Elizabeth just smiled and shook her head. Ever since she had bought her jeep Zander never wanted to take his old little pick up, he claimed his tuck needed a break every now and then.

***We can take my jeep, but you can drive. We both know that's what you want anyway **** -Lizbits***

She typed out her response and put her phone back in her pocket. Her best friend just had a way of making her day and she loved him for it.

"Are you sure you wanna go back to the training room" Matt asked her all of a sudden as they rounded the corner to the hall which the training room was on. "I'm sure we could go back to the front office. You know chat it up some more."

Elizabeth really looked at Matt and saw that he was nervous about something. For some reason he didn't seem to be his normal cocky self. "What are you trying to avoid?" she asked him.

"Me!" Robin said with anger in her voice as she came out of the door leading to the training room. "The great doctor is avoiding me because he has yet to fill out the necessary paperwork on all our new players, not to mention none of the players have received a physical for this season. You know what that means don't you Matt? It means none of them are medically cleared to play. Not a single player on this team is even allowed to be practicing at this point."

Elizabeth had known Robin for a few years now thanks to her brothers friendship with the Robin, and in all those years she had never heard her this mad. She was guessing the Matt neglecting his duties as head trainer for the team was a big no, no on Robin's list.

"Relax Robin," Matt tried to calm Robin, "I plan on having all the players have their physicals this afternoon before they leave. I was actually going to take Elizabeth with me to go speak to her father about making sure they all showed up." He tried to grab Elizabeth's hand and pull her in any direction other than Robin's.

"Oh no," Robin spat back at him. "She needs to get in here and start studying for all the work she's going to be doing this season. You have already failed at most of your duties for the beginning of the season and I refuse to have you fail at having a successful intern."

With that Robin took Elizabeth's hand and led her back into the training room, while Matt was left to deal with cleaning up his mess from his lack of meeting his responsibilities as head trainer. As soon as Robin had her in the training room she sat Elizabeth down with an anatomy book. She planned on giving Elizabeth a quiz on all the bones and muscles in the hand before lunch and wanted her to study up.

Elizabeth just smiled as she studied because Elizabeth was gonna ace this test. What Robin didn't know was ever since she had gotten the news that she was gonna intern with team Elizabeth had been studying her little heart out. She had been learning all the bones and muscles in the human body, had been doing as much research as she could on common injuries to ball players. Elizabeth wanted this very badly. She wanted to be just like Matt one day. She wanted to be a doctor and head up the training team of a baseball team someday. Of course she wanted to be better than Matt; her dream was to be the trainer for the New York Yankees. Her private secret made Elizabeth smile to herself, because no one knew her dream, not her dad or brother or Zander. This was a secret she kept all to herself.

Elizabeth had studied the book for at least twenty minutes before Matt finally made it back into the training room. He looked like he had conquered the dragon as he walked in with a triumphant smile on his face. Robin just rolled her eyes at him in frustration and shoved a bunch of files at him telling him he needed to fill them out.

About ten minutes later Robin came over and took away Elizabeth's text book. "I'm giving you fifteen minutes to finish this," she said as she handed Elizabeth her home made test. "You can break for lunch after that." So Elizabeth sat at the desk and filled out her test, just beaming from ear to ear knowing that she was getting every single answer on Robin's test right.

Just as Elizabeth was filling out the last answer on her little quiz Steven, came barreling through the door. He made a bee line straight to Elizabeth ignoring the other two people in the room. "I need to use your Jeep," he blurted out to his baby sister.

"Hello to you to Steve," Robin said in a not so nice tone to her friend

"Oh hey Robin," he said not even looking at her. "So where are your keys? Come on dad only gave us an hour for lunch and you know how he is when we're late getting back."

Elizabeth just looked at her brother dumbstruck. How dare he come in here demanding to use her care and not even bothering to ask. "I've yet to hear you ask me nicely," she said in that bratty little way she had as a younger sister.

"Please may I barrow you're car?" Steven said with annoyance at having to even ask.

"Why? what's wrong with your truck?" Elizabeth asked back. She was very protective of her car. While her both her brother and sister had been given a car when they had turned 18, Elizabeth had worked as a waitress to save to buy the car she had always wanted. She was proud that she didn't need anyone else to take care of her and she didn't just let anyone take her car.

"Nothing happened. I need your Jeep cause I need it." He responded.

"Well that sounds like a winning argument to me." Matt said from behind his pile of papers as he still continued to fill out the forms Robin had given him.

"I agree with Matt," Robin chimed in, "How could anyone deny you you're request with that?"

Now even more frustrated than ever Steven looked at his little sister and realized he would have to tell her is real motives into wanting to use her Jeep if she was gonna agree to letting him use it. "Look the top is down, and when I go out in my uniform I can get away with a few things. I can speed and the cops won't pull me over. I can go into any restaurant and can almost guarantee I won't have to pay for anything."

"You are so shallow Steven." Elizabeth said as she shook her head at her brother.

"Can I please barrow your car?" Steven asked one final time.

Elizabeth stood and walked over to her bag and pulled out her keys. "I get to use your truck," she said before she handed over her keys to his out reached hands.

"What? No! You are not going to take my truck." This caused Elizabeth to pull her keys back before he had a grasp on them.

"Then you don't get my Jeep." She said as she was beginning to put her keys back into her bag.

"Fine," Steven said back to his manipulative little sister, "You can have my truck, but so help me Lizzie if something happens to my truck….." he let his sentence hang with his brotherly threat.

"Same goes for my Jeep," She said as she handed her brother her keys. "Where are your keys?"

"In the locker room, in my bag at the bottom of my locker," he told her as he ran out of the room to make sure he could meet his dad's deadline to be back in time for lunch.

Both Robin and Matt were laughing at her as she turned around to face them with shock on her face. "So Matt, feel like taking a trip into the locker room for me?" she asked as sweetly as she could.

Before he even had a chance to respond Robin spoke for him. "While I feel bad for you Liz, I'm not giving him permission to get off of that chair to all those files are filled out." Robin shot Matt a dirty look for putting this off in the first place. "Besides I'm sure all the players have left by now. The locker room is probably empty. You could be in and out before anyone even knows you were there."

Matt looked at the young girl sympathetically, "Sorry Liz. I would help if I could, but I'm more afraid of Robin than I am of you." That comment got Matt hit twice, once by Robin and then by Elizabeth.

Before she could plead with Matt some more Elizabeth once again felt the vibration of her back pocket

***Ummm did I just see your brother leave in your car? –Z***

***Yeah, We'll be taking his truck. – Lizbits***

***Sweet, I'm still driving –Z***

Placing her phone in her pocket she looked over at the imprisoned doctor, "Thanks for nothing." With that she walked out of the training room and down to the locker room. She was gonna kill her brother for this. If there was one place she had never been in in the whole stadium it was the locker room. It just felt wrong to go in there, plus she was always afraid she would get caught or see something she didn't want to.

Being a big girl she pushed open the door and tried finding her brother's locker. Even though it was only the first day of spring practice, Elizabeth was assaulted by the smell of sweat. This was so not a pleasant smell and she hoped she could find Steven's keys quickly and get away from the horrific smell. It only took a minute to locate Steven's locker. She reached up and pulled open his locker.

There at the bottom was Steven's blue bag. She bent down to dig around in his bag for what she was looking for. Opening the bag Elizabeth almost gagged. It seemed that the smell that first assaulted her was coming from her brother's bag. She wondered how he couldn't smell this. Just as Elizabeth got a hold of her brother's car keys she heard the locker room door slam and then heard a loud crashing noise. Great, she thought, she wasn't alone.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

He was finally finished running the ten laps coach had given him for being late to practice and Jason was pissed. He wasn't mad at his coach, no, he understood that Jeff Webber was trying to instill discipline and prove the point that he was the boss and what he said was law. Jason was pissed at himself.

For as long as Jason could remember he had taken pride in his work. He was good at what he did and most everyone around him knew it. He never flaunted his talent, but he always followed the rules his coaches had ever put in front of him. Being late to practice, though a simple mistake was not something Jason was happy about. The worst part about all this now was that he knew Coach Webber disliked him.

Since Jason had given up on school and pleasing his parents, he had relied on himself to succeed in what he chose to do. It wasn't like Jason was afraid to fail, he was just afraid to fail and have to go crawling back to his family. They were nothing to him now; they turned their back on him when he decided to make it on his own.

Jason trotted the whole way back to the locker room. He needed to be alone; he needed to blow off some steam. Slamming the door Jason slammed his fist into the closes locker swearing as he did so. That was when he heard a noise coming from further inside the locker room.

The only reason he had allowed himself to have his little outburst was because Jason believed he would be the only player left who hadn't left for lunch. Jason had tried over the years to discipline himself not to show emotion. He had just learned that when there were emotions involved it could only lead to trouble and heartache. So in the face of everyone Jason would become a statue and never show any form of having a heart. It was how he got the nickname "The Borg".

Jason walked further into the locker room to see just who it was that caught him at a weak point. He knew that if it were a player he could just shrug it off and make a joke of it. If it was one of his coaches he could apologize and make sure they knew he would be able to keep a cool head when he was on the mound. Jason knew that he could play this off for just about anyone, however, Jason didn't expect to find this particular person in the locker room and was shocked into silence in their presence.

There kneeling in front of Steven Webber's locker with her hands in his gym bag was a young girl. She appeared to be very young. She was a brunette with her hair done in braided pig tails. She looked up at him with expressive sapphire eyes that read of fear. Great now here was something else he could be mad at himself for, he had frightened a young child. Wait, what was she doing in the locker room with her hands in a player's belongings? Was she some kind of kleptomaniac, stealing form all the players? Or was she some crazed fan of Webber's trying to get some kind of trinket while no one was around?

"You know you're not supposed to be in here," Jason said as he finally found his voice.

The young woman pocketed whatever it was she took from Webber's bag, zipped it back, placed the bag back into its proper place and closed the locker. She stood then and Jason saw that she wasn't very tall and this only confirmed his earlier suspicions of this being too young of a girl to be in a baseball locker room. "I just needed to get something from Steven's bag." She told him in a very soft voice.

"Yeah? What's that?" he asked her as he stepped closer to her. He wasn't quite sure why he was invading her space. He guessed it was because he was sticking up for his teammate. If this young _Swimfan_ teenage girl was trying to get one over on Steven he wasn't going to allow it.

When Jason had stepped closer to her she had stepped back and now she was pressed against the lockers. "I don't see how that's any of your business." She said to him, her voice becoming a bit louder then before. Even with her back literally against the wall Jason could tell this kid had a bit of a fire in her belly. If she were just a few years older and not jailbait he could actually see the two becoming friends, or more. But she was too young to even think those kinds of thoughts. She had to be what, 15 at best?

Jason was now standing in front of the girl, a mere two feet from her. "I don't think you should be taking things that don't belong to you, so whatever you took if you put it back now and I won't tell anyone you were even in here." He was trying to reason with the girl and get rid of her all at the same time.

She straightened herself up and moved a little closer to him, "I don't care if you tell anyone I was in here. I got what I needed, and besides Steven owes me this."

Jason moved even closer and got a little more in the girls face, "Look kid…."

"Who are you calling a kid?" she asked

"I don't care what your issues in life are, but you're not stealing anything today, so just put back anything you may have taken or I'm calling security in here."

That set a blaze to her eyes and Jason could see the fires burning. "Go ahead," she said as she narrowed her eyes at him. When Jason didn't make a move for the shock of being challenged, the girl just stepped around him.

He reached out and grabbed her elbow. "You're not leaving here until you put back whatever you stole." Jason was beginning to lose his patience with the teenage hellion.

"Let me go you big ape." She struggled to free herself from his grasp.

"Not till you put back whatever it is you took." Jason didn't know why he was fighting with this young kid. There was just something about her that he couldn't put his finger on.

That was when the third person in the locker room made themselves known by clearing their throat. "Morgan?" Luke Spencer questioned the pitcher. Jason let go of the girl.

"She was going through Steven's bag," he began to explain to one of his coaches. "I was trying to stop her from stealing whatever it is she took."

Luke looked at the girl with his eyebrows raised in question and gave her a chance to explain herself. "I only took what Steven said I could get. Trust me the last place I would want to be is here, but Steven wouldn't get it so I had to come find them."

"Find what?" Luke asked.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a set of car keys. "I was gonna take his truck to lunch with Zander." Luke shook his head in understanding. It was clear to Jason that Luke knew exactly who the young girl was and it was also becoming obvious that this girl was at least a few years older then he had first thought.

Yet Jason still couldn't help himself he had to get a jab in. "Are you even old enough to drive?" he spat at her.

This caused the fire to burn in her eyes again as she glared at him. "Shut up."

Luke just chuckled at their interaction. "She's fine Morgan, if she said Steven told her to get his keys than he probably did." Looking at the girl he continued to speak, "the next time he tells you to come into the locker room, don't. Now get out of here. I spied Zander outside of my office window talking to Sarah."

"Oh no!" the girl exclaimed as she ran out of the locker room to find whoever the Zander person was.

Luke then turned to Jason "I'm not sure what was going on before I got in here but you might want to do yourself a favor and stay away from her. I'm not one to go messing in anyone's personal life, but I am telling you that one's off limits." With that Luke turned on his heal and headed back to his office.

Jason threw his glove as hard as he could at his locker. What the hell was up with him? It was only the first day and already his head coach thought he was an arrogant player who didn't respect anyone, his pitching coach and childhood idol thought he was into jailbait, and that girl brought out some kind of fight in him.

Plopping down on the bench that was in front of his locker, Jason just placed his head in his hands and let out a loud sigh. He had a feeling this was going to be a very long season.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

For once her best friend had not been exaggerating; the players this season were absolutely on fire they were so hot. These guys weren't your typical all American ball players, no they all had an aura that screamed of a deadly danger. It was absolutely freaking hot. All were tall most were dark and there was not a single one of them that wasn't sexy. Now she knew why Nicholas had called this impromptu meeting. They had to completely rethink their publicity campaign from previous years.

Normally they would go with the tradition of showing the public that baseball was still America's favorite pastime and that you could bring the whole family to a game and have a great time. But this year, with the players the team had acquired, the all-American feel of years past was just not there. Hell the only player that even fit the bill of an all American was Steven, but being his sister she had seen Steven's dark side and knew that if they were to change up their campaign he would adapt well.

Sarah sat in the conference room with the Bulldog publicity team and wondered just how they could spin this new team. Flipping through the photos of the players most of her thoughts were of the dirty kind. She pictured Drake in nothing but his baseball pants glistening with sweat. She could picture the new third baseman, Spencer, with his pouty lips capturing hers. She could feel the strong arms of their new center fielder, O'Brien around her waist pulling her close to his muscular chest.

Sarah had to grab her legal note pad off the table and fan herself; she was getting hot just having those thoughts. Thank goodness Steven's picture came up next. Now she could gain control of her not so pure mind. _Besides_, she thought to herself, _as hot as these players were Matt was still a doctor and that's what mattered. _

Staring into her brother's blue eyes Sarah was able to finally control her thoughts and decided to move on to the next photo. She took one glance and almost had a heart attack on the spot. Staring back at her was one of the most good looking men she had ever had the pleasure of seeing. The team's new pitcher was gorgeous and apparently she was not the only woman in the room who noticed as Sarah saw Carly mouth the words Oh My God as she too saw the man's picture. Jason Morgan had to have had the most amazing blue eyes and there on his face was just a ghost of a smirk. Sarah was sure she was drooling.

"So as everyone can see," Nicholas Cassidine started, "Our team's image is completely different than any we have ever had. Does anyone have any ideas on how we can get bodies in our stands for this season?"

The room was very quiet, and it seemed as if no one had any ideas. Sarah herself was still very distracted by the picture of the pitcher that she had yet to take her eyes off of. Oh how the dirty thoughts came flooding back to her now and they all involved this man in the picture.

With the quiet stretching on for far more than Nicholas's liking he had to speak again. "Come on people. This is wire you were hired in the first place. Your job is to come up with new ways to make sure our franchise is a success. In order for us to be so we have to put people in the seats and sell tickets. So I ask again, how are we going to do so with the team we have now?" Again the room made no noise, so now Nicholas decided to call out his crack team "Jax?"

The blond Australian looked like a deer in the headlights when his boss called his name. It was obvious Jax had no ideas as far as how to market this team. Jasper Jacks, or Jax to everyone he met, his specialty was merchandise and fan fair events. No one could put on a fan event like this man, but coming up with new and original concepts for a whole season's worth of campaigns was asking just way too much of him.

"Sarah?" Nicholas said moving on to his next deer. She, just like Jax, had nothing to say. Usually given enough time Sarah would have a million ideas, but being here in this room with her mind still occupied with not so pleasant thoughts of most of the team was very ill prepared.

"Am I going to be the one to say it then?" Carly interjected. "Hello," she said holding up the pictures of the players. "These men are hot. So let's do what publicists have been doing for years. Sex sells, so why can't we sell it too?"

Carly sure did have a point. It was a proven fact that sex sold. It was why you could find it in almost every commercial that was on television. And damn if she also wasn't right about the ball players, other than Steven for obvious reasons, Sarah had pictured all of them an in a most compromising of positions.

"Look it's quite simple, we wanna fill those seats, and we have to make all of those men into the object of every woman's dreams." Carly stated.

Jax not convinced of Carly's idea said in protest, "Do you really think that will work? What red blooded American male would want to come watch these sex symbols you're wanting to create? I'm sorry but when I see anything that has a shirtless man the last thing I'm thinking about is wanting whatever it is they're selling. So Carly, tell me how making our players into sex symbols is going to bring in an audience?" He concluded with a challenge.

"The point isn't to bring in the men." Carly said as if it was obvious, "The point is to bring in the women. Women will bring their boyfriends, husbands and family. Who do you think plans when it comes to anything?" she paused for a dramatic effect, "It's the women. Look the player's talent alone will bring in the male demographic we want, but selling that these men are sex symbols will bring in the female demographic we so desperately need."

Sarah had never heard Carly make so much sense about business before. She was absolutely right though. While the team had been successful with ticket sales in the past, they were still lacking a large female demographic of fans. Sure they would get the occasional mom bringing her boys for a game, or the good girlfriend who was willing to sit through nine innings for her boyfriend, but very rarely would they get women to come watch a game, just to come watch a game.

"Carly I think you're on to something" Nicholas said with a huge grin on his face. "We're going to break for lunch, but when we come back I want you all to have a way to make Carly's idea a reality." With that Nicholas turned and walked out of the room, fallowed shortly after by Jax.

Sarah stood and started gathering her things to leave for the break Nicholas had just granted them. "Am I good or am I good?" Carly questioned in a bragging tone.

Simply shaking her head and smiling at her "I have to admit if there was ever a season to bring girls into the stands, this is it. My God these guys are hot."

"Exactly my point," Carly said as she and Sarah headed back to their shared office. "Oh and how can't wait to get to know each and every one of them." Carly gave a wink and had a sly smile on her face. "The real question is who do I start with first?"

That was Carly for you, always thinking about her next date. Sarah had never met someone who was so boy crazy. In the many years that the two women have been friends Sarah could not remember the last time her fiend had had a serious relationship. Carly was always jumping from one guy to the other. Now that Sarah thought about it, maybe that wasn't such a good thing.

Just as they were rounding the corner, the two women caught a glimpse of Dr. Matt talking with Sarah's father. Oh how opportunity was knocking at her door. Putting on the sweetest smile, Sarah walked over to where the two men were talking. Standing on her tiptoes she kissed her father on the cheek, "Hi daddy."

Jeff a little thrown by Sarah's affection was glad for it none the less. It was always nice when his children wanted to be loving, it also meant they usually wanted something. "Sarah," Jeff said to his daughter.

Still with that sweet smile on her face, Sarah turned to Matt, "Hello Dr. Hunter. How are you doing today?"

"Hey Sarah." Matt said in greeting giving her a little wave. "I'm good, just staying busy. I was actually just telling your dad how glad I am to have Elizabeth working with me this season."

Sarah felt her smile falter; of course he would be talking about Elizabeth. Sarah was sure that Lizzie was doing everything in her power to steal Matt away. How could she be related to such a snake? Still Sarah couldn't let Matt see just how much her sister's backstabbing bothered her. No she still had to keep that sweet smile on her face and pretend that her sister was the second coming. "That's our Lizzie, always willing to lend a helping hand. Isn't she just the sweetest?"

"Yeah she really is," Matt replied. Turning back to Jeff he then said, "Thanks again Mr. Webber about this afternoon and sorry for the screw up."

Jeff extending his hand out to Matt to shake replied, "Not a problem. I'm just glad we could get this worked out. I would hate for something like this to have ruined our season before it even started."

Matt shaking his hand said, "I agree. I'll see you later though Mr. Webber. Bye Sarah."

"Bye Matt." Sarah said with a genuine smile. Still it was sad to watch her future husband walk away. If only he would hurry up and ask her on a date. Of course with Lizzie swooping in and trying to make herself readily available to Matt,

As Sarah reentered he office Carly swooped in to get the dirt, seeing as how Sarah had a scowl on her face. "So what did the good doctor have to say?"

Closing the door Sarah turned back to her friend and let her temper explode. "He had the nerve to sit there and tell my father how great Lizzie was. Can you believe her? I gotta give her credit though; I mean it only took her a morning to snake her way in there."

"I don't know why you're letting her get away with it." Carly said only fueling Sarah's fire.

Letting out a heavy sigh and catching a glimpse of Zander leaning against Steven's truck, Sarah put her wicked smile on. "Oh trust me Carly, I'm not." Without another word to her friend Sarah swung open the door and power walked it out to the parking lot.

So Lizzie thought she could steal her boyfriend? Let's see how much Lizzie liked it when she didn't have her little punk boyfriend. Again putting on her sweet smile and sliding next to Zander she said, "Hey Zander."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Jeff was not happy. He felt as if his first day of practice had been a bust. Sure the morning had gone well, and he had been able to see his team at work, but his afternoon had been a total waist.

He wasn't allowed to have his team on the field after lunch thanks to Dr. Hunter's oversight of none of his players being medically cleared. Jeff was not a perfect man by any means but when it came to his work he demanded as close to perfection as he could get from not just himself, but the people that surrounded him. It annoyed him beyond belief that because of the good doctor's mistake he wouldn't be having batting practice this afternoon with his team.

No his team was in the video room watching tapes of some of the teams they would be facing this season. The only problem with that was that even Jeff was getting bored with that so he could only imagine how his players felt about it.

Giving a nod to Luke to let him know to shut off the tape, Jeff went into his personal collection of movies and pulled out and old copy of _Major League. _It wasn't the most inspirational movie on baseball there was, but at least it was funny and entertaining.

He had found over his many years that a good way for a team to get along was to laugh together. It was something simple, yes, but it worked. Jeff glanced down at his watch. He wanted to stop by the training room and make sure everything was a go for the physicals today. He would be damned if he was going to let another day get wasted because of a minor oversight.

Standing Jeff walked out of the room and down the hall. This also gave him the perfect opportunity to check on his youngest child. He had been around Steven all day and had a brief interaction with Sarah earlier, yet he had not seen Elizabeth all day. She was the one he worried about the most.

He knew it was a little ridiculous, but he just couldn't help it. He knew Steven had his life together for the most part. He had a good job, he was saving up to buy a home and he had just started see Olivia, someone he was very much becoming serious quickly, so Jeff didn't feel the need to worry so much about him.

Sarah was smart and ambousous and very rarely took no for an answer. She had an open heart and would fall in love easily if she would stop looking for perfection. She was also very capable of taking care of herself. While Jeff worried a little about his eldest daughter, he didn't worry that much because he knew she would find her happy ending because she wouldn't except anything less.

Elizabeth though was his worry. She was his baby. She was also the only one of his children that had yet to show she had any sign of knowing where she was going in her life. He knew the only reason she took this internship was to please him. He knew she had no interest in baseball, even less so then Sarah. Although Zander was always around he also knew his daughter had no interest in the young man. Jeff had yet to see her in any type of romantic relationship and that worried him because he was afraid she was closed off to love.

He just worried that Elizabeth wasn't as happy as she could be. Maybe it was time for her dad to push her in the right direction in both career and love.

As Jeff walking the rest of the way toward the training room he began to form a plan. Now he just needed to find the right guy for his daughter.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The afternoon had seemed never ending to Elizabeth. Lunch had flown by with Zander and now sitting in the training room, taking what felt like the millionth test from Robin, she was just ready to go home. Though she already knew most of what Robin was testing her on, Elizabeth just had so much running through her mind right now. Most of which could be summed up in one word, Sarah.

After her run in with that stupid player, man just thinking about him got her blood boiling; Luke had been right about seeing Sarah with Zander. When Elizabeth had gone racing out to the parking lot, there was Sarah all cozied up to him, with her hand on his forearm. The sight made Elizabeth throw up in her mouth a little, because she had seen that sinister smile on Sarah's face when the two women made eye contact.

"Just think about it," was all Sarah said in a parting to Zander. She had left the two friends after that. In the ten plus years that she and Zander had been friends, Sarah barely looked at him, let alone spoke to him, and now here she was flirting with him. Elizabeth knew her sister was up to something.

Of course she had asked Zander about what Sarah had said, and he told her. He told her that Sarah had nothing to do Friday and that he should find a way to get out of any plans he might have with Elizabeth so that Sarah and he could do something. She knew Zander wasn't interested in her sister, but it still infuriated her that Sarah thought she could take her friend away.

Already Elizabeth knew that her first day was calling for a large beer, maybe even two. As she thought more and more about it she realized that was exactly what she needed. She smiled at herself for coming up with her brilliant idea and knew the only thing missing from her plan was her partner in crime. Pulling out her phone she sent him a quick text.

**Beers tonight at our spot? – Lizbits**

"Really, pulling out your phone to look up an answer Elizabeth," Robin scolder her for cheating.

"Robin that's not what I was doing," Elizabeth protested. She held up her paper to even show Robin that she was finished. "I've been done for a while. I just needed to send Zander a text."

Still sitting behind a mountain of paper work that he had neglected, Matt came to Elizabeth's defense. "Give her a break Robin. She's aced every test you've given her today. The kid knows her stuff. She's almost as smart as I am," He finished with a complement to himself.

His last statement of course came with eye rolls from both women. It was amazing how he could bring everything back to himself. Robin gave a sheepish look in Elizabeth's direction, realizing she was going a little overboard with all the testing. "You do seem to know all the anatomy you'll need to know, and a lot of the other things you'll need to learn are more hands on. Sorry"

"It's cool; Steven told me you could be a bit high strung." Elizabeth told Robin.

The statement Elizabeth said had made Robin's mouth drop wide open in shock, and made Matt crack up in laughter. Robin hated it when people thought she was uptight, it wasn't her fault that she had a way of doing things, the right way. Damn Steven and his big mouth. Taking out her anger on the closest person to her "What are you laughing at? Have you finished filling out all of the paper work for those medical records?"

Matt, not liking the negative attention being turned on him, stopped laughing right away. "I can't finish the paper work until all the players have their physical."

"Well when is that going to be?" Robin asked. As if on cue the training room door opened and in walked Jeff.

Elizabeth smiled with pride at her dad. Ever since she had been very little she had always loved watching him at work, and now she felt so blessed to be working on the same team with him.

Jeff nodded and said his hellos to both Robin and Matt as he made his way over to his youngest. He gave her a small squeeze and a kiss on the forehead. "How has your first day been going?" He asked her.

"It's been going pretty good," she gave an eye roll; "All I've really done is taken a bunch of tests Robin made up for me." Jeff gave her a knowing smile. It was well known that Robin had a tendency to go a little over board when she found a pet project, and it seemed that educating Elizabeth was it. "I've also been following Matt around as he gave me a tour today"

"Just introducing her to some of the people she'll be coming in contact to as an intern, Sir." Matt explained his actions. Matt wasn't sure why, but Jeff Webber intimidated him a bit. Jeff was the type of man that didn't ask for respect, he was just given it.

"I really appreciate you all taking my little Lizzie in and showing her the ropes." Jeff told Robin and Matt. "It makes me feel good knowing that the two of you are looking out for her."

Elizabeth blushed a little at his words. It was a bit embarrassing having your dad say those kind of things to your somewhat bosses. She also wasn't sure if she liked that he felt she needed to be protected. Sometimes she felt like her dad worried too much and still thought of her as a little girl rather than the young woman she was. Deciding to change the subject away from her Elizabeth spoke "What brings you by Daddy?"

Jeff just smiled down at his daughter, unlike Sarah who would call him daddy all the time Elizabeth however only called him that on occasion, not when she wanted something or was trying to get her way, just when she felt like it. It always warmed Jeff's heart when she did it too.

"Just came in to speak with Dr. Hunter." Jeff finally spoke as he tore his gaze away from his daughter.

Getting up from behind his desk and mountain of paperwork, Matt walked over to Jeff. "What can I do for you sir?" Matt asked the head coach.

"Just a private matter I would like to speak with you about. Do you mind if we step out in the hallway?" Jeff asked Matt. Elizabeth gave her father a quizzical look, but he reassured her with a smile.

Elizabeth and Robin watched as both men walked out the door. She was still a bit puzzled by her father's behavior. What could he possibly have to discuss that was personal with Matt? And what was so personal his own daughter couldn't hear?

"Ok that was weird to you too, right?" Robin asked Elizabeth.

Shaking her head in agreement, Elizabeth just responded "Pretty much." It wasn't like her father to keep secrets from her. Why couldn't he ask what he needs to ask Matt in front of her? Was it because Robin was in the room? She couldn't see why that would be a factor, Robin and Steven had been friends for several years and Robin knew most all of the Webber family secrets, much like Zander did.

Before Elizabeth could give her father's strange behavior any more thought Matt walked back in the room with a sly smile on his face. Both girls looked at him with a mixture of both curiosity and anticipation that Matt might want to spill about what was said in the hallway. But Matt ignored both of their looks, kept his cocky smile on his face, sat down at his desk and continued with his paperwork.

"Well? "Robin asked, because she just couldn't help being noisy and knew Elizabeth was just as curious as she was.

Matt looked up to an annoyed look on Robins face. "Well, what?"

"Are you not going to tell us what that was all about?"

Matt put on an even bigger cockier smile "Can't. Doctor, patient confidentiality and all." If at all possible Robin grew even more annoyed with her college, which only made the smile on Matt's face grow larger. He wasn't sure why but it was always fun to get under her skin.

The room fell silent as the occupants went back to their own devices. Matt was feverishly trying to finish his files before the players came in for their physicals, Robin was taking inventory of the supplies in the training room and Elizabeth was studying one of her anatomy books. An hour had passed before anyone spoke.

"Finally finished," Matt said with a triumphant smile. He looked over at the clock and realized it was just in time. The players would be arriving any minute to start the physicals that needed to be done so they could practice tomorrow. "Hey, Elizabeth do you mind taking all these files up to the main office to get them copied? Make sure you give the copies to Epiphany, but I need the originals so they can be filed. After that if you want you can head home for the rest of the day."

Elizabeth couldn't help herself; she let out a huge smile. It had been a long first day and while she knew this was the path she wanted to take as a career she was also very much looking forward to grabbing a beer with her best friend. "I can do that." She hopped down from her chair and let Matt load her arms down with a huge stack of files.

By the time Matt put the last file on the top of the pile in her arms, the top of her head was barely visible. "Are you going to be able to see where you're going?" Robin asked with amusement in her voice.

"Sure, no problem. I know this place like the back of my hand. It's about twenty paces down the hall, turn left, another thirty or so more paces, turn right and it's the second door on my left." Came a muffled reply from behind the large stack. "I just need one of you to open the door for me."

Still laughing at the younger girl, Robin led Elizabeth to the door leading out to the hall. She put Elizabeth facing in the right direction and told her to be careful. So Elizabeth started her trek to the front office, counting her steps along the way. She made it to her first turn without incident, and was coming upon her turn to the right when she felt something bump into her side, causing all the files to fly out of her arms as she crashed down to the ground with something large and heavy crashing down on top of her.


End file.
